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Men's Tennis
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Women's Tennis
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| Saturday, February 10 |
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| Swedes win doubles to lead Czechs 2-1 Reuters | |||
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HELSINGBORG, Sweden -- Sweden took a 2-1
lead over the Czech Republic in their Davis Cup tie on Saturday
as Jonas Bjorkman and Nicklas Kulti beat Jiri Novak and David
Rikl 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5 in the doubles.
"We played very well. This is one of the best Davis Cup
doubles I have ever played," Bjorkman said after the third match
in the world group tie.
The Swedish pair, who had not played together for two years
before this match, won four of 11 break points in the match
against three of 15 for the Czechs.
Bjorkman and Kulti had the upper hand in the first set while
the roles were reversed in the second.
Novak and Rikl took a 5-2 lead in the third set, having
broken Bjorkman's service.
But the Swedes, cheered on by a noisy home crowd, fought
back and took the set into a tiebreak -- which they won thanks
to some outstanding volleys from Kulti.
Novak showed signs of tiredness after his marathon battle
against Norman on Friday and Rikl, troubled by a sore thigh, had
to call a time out in the fourth set.
Kulti sealed the victory by putting away a forehand volley
on the Swede's first match point.
"The decisive moment in the match was when we were 2-5 down
in the third set. We decided to step up the pace and force them
to run more," Bjorkman said.
Novak said the partisan crowd had also been a factor in the
third set.
"They (Bjorkman and Kulti) started to return the ball very
well and they also had a lot of luck," he said.
Reverse singles Seven times Davis Cup winners Sweden returned to the world group this year having crashed out of the tournament in 1999 after winning the trophy the two previous years. In Sunday's reverse singles Magnus Norman will play Bohdan Ulihrach, who won the only previous match the two played. "I think Norman will win if he can keep up the pace and make Ulihrach move," Sweden captain Carl-Axel Hageskog said. "Magnus must not become defensive," he added. On Friday Norman beat Novak in a tense five-set thriller to pull Sweden level at 1-1 after Ulihrach had defeated Thomas Johansson in four sets. Johansson and Novak, who meet in the second reverse singles on Sunday, have each won once in their two previous confrontations. Novak remained cautiously optimistic of winning the tie. "They are ahead 2-1. We have nothing to lose and can take a lot of chances," he said. | |
ALSO SEE Swiss win doubles, take 2-1 lead over U.S. in Davis Cup Spain's reign as Davis Cup champions is short Ecuador upsets Australia in epic doubles match Brazil first team to reach quarterfinals France leads Belgium 3-0 to book second round berth Romania win doubles to lead Germany 2-1 Russia leads Slovakia 2-1 after doubles victory Davis Cup results Norman helps Sweden pull even with Czechs Gambill pulls U.S. even against Switzerland | |
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